Are directories still relevant ?

Your not the only one Converse. Do you know how many web designers and owners do not know that there are people still using dial up. Dial up has gotten faster then it used to be, but it is still slow by today's internet standards. When I would tell a designer to design their site like it was on dial up, they would look at me like I was crazy. You would think I was telling them an urban legend or something, but yes dial up is real and it still exist. LOL

Your not the only one Converse. Do you know how many web designers and owners do not know that there are people still using dial up. Dial up has gotten faster then it used to be, but it is still slow by today's internet standards. When I would tell a designer to design their site like it was on dial up, they would look at me like I was crazy. You would think I was telling them an urban legend or something, but yes dial up is real and it still exist. LOL

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My 70 year old grandparents are about the only people I know that still use dial-up.

Personally I think it's best to move on and design everything for high speed internet. Your software is going to look unattractive to 99% of users and will be usable to the other 1%. If you design it like this site 99% of users will like it and 1% won't get on because they're using dial-up.

I think a developer's best bet is to design websites for what the majority uses which is high speed internet.

I am sure that dial-up will be completely gone within 10 years or so.

Of course I guess it all depends on what kind of site you're creating. If you programming a forum then shoot for high speed internet by all means. I you're creating a web directory then perhaps make it half and half.

Nowadays, web directories are seemed not important. It’s too personal to say this web directory would no longer useful for today’s generation. There are thousands of mobile applications that can be used to search for. However, it sometimes misleads you to your destination. I would say I am one of them, before I used to search web directories but now not anymore. I would rather to use old piece of map.

Nowadays, web directories are seemed not important. It’s too personal to say this web directory would no longer useful for today’s generation. There are thousands of mobile applications that can be used to search for. However, it sometimes misleads you to your destination. I would say I am one of them, before I used to search web directories but now not anymore. I would rather to use old piece of map.

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I'm sorry, but that doesn't make sense. I don't know what you mean by, really, any of it. What thousands of mobile application are you speaking of, and what do you mean when you say that they can be used to search for? And what do you mean by a map?

@May102014, directories are the most popularly used search for mobile phones and tablets these days. They are used for searching for local sites all the time, so I don't understand what you mean by directories no longer being useful for today's generation. Today's generation uses it extensively on their mobile phones and tablets more so then ever before from my understanding.

Directories are still a great marketing tool, especially if you use them to promote local websites. I recently ran a campaign for a local tomato producer, and our directories submissions really brought great results. Now I can't speak for general topic websites from my own experience, but I believe they are still quite useful.

I think web directories are still relevant, especially niche ones. Using niche ones, you can target out an answer to your search query much more easily than using, say, a search engine such as Google. In that regard, in terms of functionality, a directory can be much faster than a search engine, and hence I still view it as relevant, as it serves its purpose in an effective and time-efficient manner.
A lot of people will say that web directories are useless because they never see any traffic from them. While that may be true, more often than not the person who tells you this hadn't submitted his/her site to any ones that were relevant. If you're not seeing traffic specifically to your site from directories, it does not mean the medium as a whole is irrelevant.

A lot of people will say that web directories are useless because they never see any traffic from them. While that may be true, more often than not the person who tells you this hadn't submitted his/her site to any ones that were relevant. If you're not seeing traffic specifically to your site from directories, it does not mean the medium as a whole is irrelevant.

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You've got it. Either they haven't submitted their site to any web directories because they've bought into the nonsense that tweeting about their site is going to be more beneficial, or they've submitted it only to free junky directories.

Myself, I would rarely visit a directory, unless I wanted to look for business partnerships or link exchanges. I don't think many people visit web directories, but I could be wrong. However, I think they are a good form of search engine food, though, as I explained in other posts, they don't feed the search engines as much as in the past. Just make sure you submit to a highly trusted directory.

Myself, I would rarely visit a directory, unless I wanted to look for business partnerships or link exchanges. I don't think many people visit web directories, but I could be wrong. However, I think they are a good form of search engine food, though, as I explained in other posts, they don't feed the search engines as much as in the past. Just make sure you submit to a highly trusted directory.

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If you were correct in your assertion that people don't use web directories for any reason other than for SEO purposes, then it would naturally follow that they don't offer SEO advantages, and may even be dangerous, since, if their only purpose is that of a backlink, then they are indeed selling links, which is something Google discourages.

However, people do use web directories. You may not, but that is purely anecdotal. I used to own a motorcycle, but I haven't been on a motorcycle for a couple of decades, and I think it's fair to say that, at least in the United States, most people use cars rather than motorcyles. It doesn't necessarily follow, however, that no one uses motorcycles anymore. True, more people may use cars than motorcycles but motorcycles still have a purpose beyond the commissions that motorcycle salesmen earn. An article that I recently published in Web Directory Digest goes into this further, using other examples. See Apples and Oranges.

I have several sites online and from ten to twenty percent of my traffic comes from web directories. Other than some direct traffic, most of my traffic comes from search engines, but web directory traffic tends to be targeted, so I wouldn't discount that. I do have some links from directories that have turned to crap since I submitted by site, and some others that I would consider only marginally useful, but I mostly submit only to good quality directories.

With about seventy sites, I can't afford to submit them all to such directories as Best of the Web, Directory Journal, or Aviva Directory, which charge over a hundred dollars in submission fees, but I do so as I can afford it. If all of my sites were listed in all of the best directories, the percentage of traffic that I receive from directories would be higher.

web directory traffic tends to be targeted, so I wouldn't discount that

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A lot can be said but I think that that is the bottom line in the whole debate, and the reason why directories will remain relevant. Especially when we zoom in to the local/niche scale. Also as search engines take a hard stand against bad directories, these will slowly fizzle into oblivion (one can hope...) and the value of good directories will become more evident/be less cause for debate.

I think directories have been dying for years now, and it's not going to get better, that's for sure. While there many still be people stuck on dial-up, that a very, very small minority that's not really something you can only count on. Everything-niche will always have its spot somewhere, but that is not something that people should take granted either.

The problem is that ultimately the grand majority of directories offer no actual benefit to anyone. Sure there's always someone who don't know that with a good Google search you can find practically everything, but when looking at the bigger picture search engines have killed link farms (read: directories) off quite effectively and I guess removing PageRank was the final straw for them.

I think directories have been dying for years now, and it's not going to get better, that's for sure. While there many still be people stuck on dial-up, that a very, very small minority that's not really something you can only count on. Everything-niche will always have its spot somewhere, but that is not something that people should take granted either.

The problem is that ultimately the grand majority of directories offer no actual benefit to anyone. Sure there's always someone who don't know that with a good Google search you can find practically everything, but when looking at the bigger picture search engines have killed link farms (read: directories) off quite effectively and I guess removing PageRank was the final straw for them.

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You have certainly shown your ignorance of the facts. I won't go into a great deal of detail in my response since it's been discussed before, but good directories are still doing well and even some of the newer ones are making strides. People use directories, and always have; the fact that you do not is irrelevant. I don't drive a motorcycle or fly, yet that hasn't killed these industries.

The fact that I have earned a fairly decent living from web directories for more than a decade and a half now put the lie to your statement that no one benefits from directories, and the fact that people who have their sites listed in the better directories see targeted traffic from them goes further.

The first search engine was developed before the first directory, so your suggestion that search engines have killed directories is ludicrous, and what in the hell does Google suspending its public PageRank have to do with directories anyhow?

I don't really know if a lot of people use directories or not. I would only use a directory to find possible link exchanges or one way backlinks. However, I am interested in a few hobbies. Perhaps in the future, I might look up some links just for fun. I might want to see links other than what the search engines want to show me.

Actually, it's important which directories you submit your content to. You should submit your content to niche directories that are unbiased and not gamed. You need to do a little research before you submit your blog. Link farms are best avoided whereas genuine, reputed directories that do not charge anything to list your blog are best.

I think directories served their purpose when they first started appearing. Many people were already used to using the Yellow Pages, and they followed a similar structure to them which was easy to understand. In addition this was in the early days of search engines as we now know them, and Google, Yahoo, Lycos, WebCrawler, AskJeeves and others were just starting to tackle the growing problems of black hat SEO and how to provide quality search results. Human moderated directories had a bit of an upper hand during this time since they didn't leave everything up to algorithms, which were prone to mistakes and being hacked.

These days though, it's just much faster to do a search on Google, and let the local listings show up when you're looking for a local business - than to hunt down some poorly moderated directory, that few businesses even bother to submit themselves to anymore, and hope the information in it is up to date or not.

I recall in the early 2000's sites like DMoz were considered important to be listed in because they were so heavily moderated, but these days it seems like most folks have jumped ship from their moderating duties over there.

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